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Elves and warriors and goblins, oh my!

Jasmine Shokar, left, and her boyfriend Paris Tryphonas, mock fight in their costumes. The couple regularly participate in Underworld, a, a medieval, live action role-playing (LARP) game on a farm near Peterbrough. It attracts hundreds of participants from the GTA -- and not the "geeky virgins" you might expect, organizers say. (VALERIE HAUCH / TORONTO STAR)

By Valerie HauchStaff Reporter

Wed., Feb. 9, 2011

As often as she can, Jaimy Warner puts on her elf ears, dons armour, grabs her mock sword and heads to a campsite on a farm outside the GTA.

There, the 22-year-old York University student becomes part of a dark, magical world replete with warriors, goblins, Viking-type characters, orcs, farmers, trolls, fairies, politicians, vampires, nobility and more.

She may fend off monster or vampire attacks, steal, wheedle or engage in combat as she interacts all weekend and advances story plots with some of the 100-odd people who are part of a unique town called Jericho.

You won’t find it on a map because it’s part of Underworld, a medieval, live action role-playing (LARP) game — “a very intense, very addictive, stylish form

of escapism set in a dark fantasy/horror theme,” says Edward Watt, 38, who started Underworld about 15 years ago with Dave Ashby, 35, both of whom have regular day jobs. It’s become the largest and longest-running LARP of its genre in Canada, with a database of 300 players aged 18 and up.

Most are young adults, aged 18 to 20, with a 60 per cent male and 40 per cent women gender breakdown. But there are also players in their 30s and some in their 40s and 50s, who enjoy playing noncombat roles in the game, says Watt.

In any event, the players are “not the geeky virgin living in his mother’s basement,” says Watt, which is part of the stereotypical image of a LARPer, a carry-over from the “Dungeons and Dragons” role-playing board game (it has no connection to Underworld).

“We’ve tried to dispel that — we’ve put a lot of effort into that,” Watt says.

Warner found out about Underworld after watching a segment about it on the Space channel, went to her first event about a year ago and has tried to get to every one since. “It’s very addictive,” she says. “When I’m playing, the adrenalin kicks in and I get a chance to act like a hero.”

On March 12, Underworld is hosting an evening masquerade ball in Toronto for its players — masks are a must. Before the ball begins, a traditional medieval dance instructor will be on hand to shape up any elves and orcs with two left feet. But Underworld’s signature season goes from May to Halloween and consists of boisterous weekends, once a month, at a 101-hectare Peterborough-area site, part of a farm. Alcohol and drugs are strictly banned. Players pay $50 each, bring their own tents and food and stay in character from arrival Friday night to departure Sunday afternoon.

About 120 players — who have real life jobs as diverse as police officer, lawyer, DJ, and graphic designer — turn out regularly for the weekend events. Every player comes into the game, which has a complex rule book, with a character history they write.

“Every player starts at level one — you don’t want to write a character history where you come into level one as a hero,” says Jasmine Shokar, a 27-year-old university student who’s been playing her female warrior character for three years. “You want to be a regular realistic adventurer that will grow and become stronger as you play the character.”

Underworld presents situations and general plot “shapes” or stories, but what happens is ultimately determined by the players, who are guided by their character’s personality and history. That’s where the improvisational aspect of the game comes in.

“There are a lot of situations where you have to decide whether you’re going to be a good person or a bad person and I’ve written my character history in such a way that my character would choose the moral thing to do,” says Shokar.

She met her boyfriend, Paris Tryphonas, at Underworld.

“It gives me a creative outlet,” says Tryphonas, a 27-year-old bank employee, whose first name might make one think it has something to do with the game but “it’s my birth name, a Greek name, you know, Paris, Troy, Helen. It was my grandfather’s name and his grandfather’s name.”

Tryphonas enjoys the mock fighting and combat scenes and the workout he gets. “It’s a good outlet for frustration, a good way to escape the world for a while. . . in a healthy way.”

There are independent groups of LARPers all across Canada. Underworld has just sold a franchise to a group in Edmonton, but Canadians are still behind Europe in acceptance and understanding of what LARPing is.

“I don’t know if it’s the history of Europe or they’re used to seeing castles in the distance all the time, but LARPing is very accepted in Europe — there are chapters all over the place,” said Watt. “They have events with thousands and thousands of people at them, in real castles.”

Watt and Ashby are so sure that people who come to Underworld will enjoy the experience, they offer the first weekend free.

“We can describe this to you, and how it works, but you’ll never really understand. But if you come to an event for just an hour or two, it will click like a light bulb, ” says Watt.

“It’s like a drug,” says Ashby. “You can try it once . . . we think you’ll be hooked.”

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